An overture

No matter how exquisite the Wei Family's meals were, Shi Yuan found them tasteless. This was only his first day, and already every exchange felt like a battle of veiled barbs. If he had to come over every day, wouldn't the aggravation give him stomach trouble?

Shi Yuan left the Flower House wearily. Wei Zelin, who accompanied him out, did not return with him. Shi Yuan had the sense not to ask questions. He went upstairs alone to wash up, then drifted off to sleep with all sorts of thoughts running through his head.

When Wei Zelin returned late that night, the entryway light was still on. Unaccustomed to it, he switched off his phone's flashlight and gazed darkly at the sleeping Shi Yuan.

Just as his phone went dark, a text message arrived.

"Argued with Shi Guohua before hospitalization. All property and vehicles under his name were sold by Shi Guohua. No visits during hospitalization; only one phone call. Contents unknown."

The floor was simply too hard. Shi Yuan woke before five from the discomfort. Since he couldn't get back to sleep anyway, he picked up his phone and searched online for study materials to memorize for Education Studies.

Yes, he had decided to apply for the Teacher Qualification Certificate. No matter the era, the security of a government job was reassuring.

Since he wasn't a graduate of a teachers' college, he needed to take supplementary Education Studies courses. Only after passing the Education Studies exam could he apply for the Teacher Qualification Certificate.

Shi Yuan looked it up online. The education bureau held Education Studies exams every May and October. With less than two months left, he decided to give the May exam a try. If he passed, he could sit the Teacher Qualification Certificate exam at the end of July.

After reading until seven, Shi Yuan rubbed his sore, tired eyes. Physical books were still easier to read. And he had had enough of the floor, too. He wanted a bed. He wanted books!

When he got up to wash in the bathroom, Wei Zelin woke up as well.

"Morning, Brother Lin." He made an effort to pull his lips into a smile as he greeted Wei Zelin.

"Wait until I've washed up, then we can go downstairs for breakfast together," Wei Zelin said gently.

"Okay," Shi Yuan answered obediently. Wei Zelin was genuinely easy to get along with when he acted like this, making people unconsciously lower their guard.

They didn't go to the Flower House for breakfast, but ate in the ground-floor hall instead. There were several baskets of steamed buns and stuffed buns, several insulated tubs of congee, side dishes, scallion pancakes, and more... The eggs came both boiled and fried. It looked like quite a spread.

Servants sat in twos and threes at the long tables in the hall, eating breakfast. The atmosphere reminded him a little of his university cafeteria.

Shi Yuan took two Xiaolongbao, a bowl of red bean congee, and two boiled eggs. He found an empty seat and began peeling an egg, ignoring the covert looks around him.

A hint of surprise filled Wei Zelin's eyes behind his glasses, but he quickly composed himself, selected a few breakfast items, and sat opposite Shi Yuan.

Shi Yuan's egg-peeling hands paused. His hand, as smooth and delicate as the egg itself, changed direction and placed the egg on Wei Zelin's plate.

"Have an egg too, Brother Lin. For a balanced diet."

"All right, thank you." Wei Zelin agreed aloud while calmly using his chopsticks to push the egg aside. Then he casually switched to another pair of chopsticks.

Catching the movement out of the corner of his eye, Shi Yuan nearly choked on his egg yolk. He said awkwardly, "Brother Lin, I'd like to go downtown tomorrow. Could you give me a ride?"

He added, "Just drop me somewhere convenient for you to stop. I can take the bus from there."

Wei Zelin paused for two seconds, then said gently, "Of course. Where are you going? If it's nearby, I can take you there."

"The city library. I want to look for some reference materials." With no money right now, borrowing books from the library was his most economical option.

Wei Zelin agreed. "It's not out of my way. I'll take you tomorrow morning."

"Thank you, Brother Lin."

"It's fine. No need to be so polite."

Wei Zelin left for work after breakfast. Shi Yuan's only real task at present was studying, so he went upstairs too.

They left a few gossiping servants whispering among themselves.

"Does the Shi Family's young master really like Wei Zelin? I heard his family's pretty rich too. How can he put up with living like this?" Madam Wei forbade the servants from calling Wei Zelin "young master," so they all used his name directly.

"Exactly. He's got such a good temper. If my daughter's in-laws treated her like this, she'd have raised hell long ago."

"What good temper? The last time Young Master Zexuan brought him here, I went to tidy the room, and he was so high and mighty. He said some really nasty things about Wei Zelin too. He's not easy to get along with at all."

"Really? They seem to get along pretty well."

"Right? He's so good-looking, and he looks so sweet."

"Tsk, you really can't judge a book by its cover. Who knows what nasty schemes he's got in his head!"

Shi Yuan knew people were bound to talk behind his back, but he didn't care. His personality was worlds apart from the original owner's, so it was only natural for people to question it behind his back. But no one would believe that he truly had nothing to fear. Let them speculate however they pleased; Shi Yuan had nothing to fear.

With Wei Zelin out, he took the original owner's clothes out one by one, photographed them, and listed them on a secondhand website. A few wrinkles didn't matter. He was selling them cheap.

Items originally worth over a hundred thousand went for eight thousand; those worth tens of thousands went for a few hundred; those worth thousands went for a few dozen. He hadn't bought them with his own money anyway, so he felt no pangs whatsoever.

Perhaps the deals were simply too good. Within barely half an hour of posting the listings, inquiries started coming in. He sold five or six pieces here and there and agreed to ship them the next morning. Doing a quick calculation, Shi Yuan figured he could go look at beds after leaving the library tomorrow.

He ate lunch downstairs as well. Shi Yuan had the odd feeling he was eating a staff meal, then realized that this food was prepared for the Wei Family's servants. Wasn't that exactly what it was?

That afternoon, he continued sorting clothes, looking up their prices online, then photographing them and listing them on the secondhand website. People kept messaging him with questions. The thought that he would have money for a bed tomorrow filled Shi Yuan with enthusiasm.

Wei Zelin hadn't returned by dinner. Shi Yuan hadn't wanted to go to the Flower House again, but the butler arrived to knock on his door at exactly seven. Seeing that the man was neither flushed nor out of breath, Shi Yuan suspected he had waited outside for a little while before knocking precisely on time.

Not only was Wei Zelin absent from dinner, but Wei Zexuan was also staying at his place downtown. Father Wei and Mother Wei treated Shi Yuan as though he were invisible, not sparing him so much as a glance. If anything, that put him more at ease.

As he wandered through the garden after dinner, he happened to meet Wei Zelin returning from working late. They went upstairs together, exchanging a few brief greetings, gentle and friendly.

Of course, Wei Zelin hadn't actually stayed late at work. He had dealt with several thorny matters after leaving, which was why he had returned so late. The staff lunch he'd eaten at the company had consisted mostly of watery dishes, and he hadn't had time for dinner. He rummaged through a box beneath his desk and found a tub of instant noodles.

Shi Yuan's hands froze around his phone, which fell onto his thigh with a smack.

What was he seeing? Wei Zelin was eating instant noodles? How could he eat food meant for mere mortals! Shouldn't a big shot like him have a cigar in one hand and an arm around a slender waist?

Shi Yuan stared blankly, his mind in chaos. Startled by him, Wei Zelin looked at his incredulous expression and couldn't help laughing. "What? Do you want some too?"

"No, no, no. I don't."

Shi Yuan asked cautiously, "Brother Lin, haven't you had dinner yet?"

"No. There's no chance they'd save dinner for me at the Flower House," Wei Zelin said matter-of-factly.

Shi Yuan felt rather stupid. Why had he even needed to ask? Everyone could see that the Wei Family disliked Wei Zelin. How could they possibly save him dinner?

Thinking of how Wei Zelin slaved away for the Wei father and son during the day, only to come home and eat instant noodles at night, Shi Yuan felt utterly heartsick. Look what the Wei Family had reduced such a handsome man to. No wonder he wanted to rebel.

He really wanted to make a grand declaration: I'll support you.

Unfortunately, his finances absolutely did not allow it. Right now, he was relying on his marriage to freeload off the Wei Family himself. By the time he found a job and settled down, Wei Zelin and Shen Duo would already have carved up the Wei Corporation between them. Would Wei Zelin need his support then?

They belonged to two different worlds. The day the Wei Corporation fell would be the day they got their divorce papers. If not for this transmigration, he would never have had anything to do with a big shot like him. He should stop fantasizing about handsome men and use this time to build a good relationship with Wei Zelin, ensuring he wouldn't be implicated after their divorce.

Shi Yuan was up early again the next morning. A bed. He had to buy a bed. If he kept sleeping like this, he would forget what sleeping in a bed even felt like.

Shi Yuan packed up all the clothes he had sold yesterday so he could mail them while downtown. Nine items had been ordered over the course of the day. Once he shipped them, the platform would transfer him a one-third deposit, with the balance arriving after the buyers confirmed receipt. As it happened, the app had been developed under Shen Duo, the story's protagonist and top.

Wei Zelin hadn't forgotten their arrangement from yesterday, nor did he ask what was in Shi Yuan's enormous bundle. After breakfast, Shi Yuan finally had the privilege of riding in Wei Zelin's car.

Wei Zelin considerately dropped Shi Yuan at the library entrance. Once Shi Yuan got out, he casually made a call.

"Yes. White jacket, blue jeans. Do you see him? Keep an eye on him."

There was a mailing service right by the library entrance. He had barely photographed and mailed his packages and entered the tracking numbers on the secondhand website before the one-third deposits came through, totaling a little over five thousand three hundred.

The power of money pulled Shi Yuan's lips into a smile. He went into the library and borrowed six books. Since he didn't know when he would next come downtown, he borrowed all the important ones.

Then he went to the bank, closed the original owner's jumble of empty accounts, and opened a new bank account of his own, carefully depositing the money he had earned from selling the clothes.

All that remained was the most important task-looking at beds!

He didn't dare visit a large furniture store, since his little bit of money would only buy a bed leg there. After finding an inexpensive Furniture City online, he saw that it wasn't far and walked over, continuing to haggle with people on the secondhand website along the way.

Shi Yuan had no idea that someone had been following him all the way from the library to Furniture City.

"Boss, yes. He spent two hours and fifteen minutes in the library. He's inside Furniture City now. I've already sent Old Seven to check on the packages he mailed earlier. We should have news tonight."

"Boss, he's coming out. Looks like he's making a call. He's carrying..."

"All right, I know. Keep following him. Contact me by text."

Seeing "Shi Yuan?" displayed on the phone on his desk, Wei Zelin hung up on his subordinate. They had exchanged phone numbers that morning.

(While living in drunken oblivion overseas, Shi Yuan hadn't been without fear. He had been afraid for a long time. From the moment that man began moving against the Wei Family, everything had happened too fast. Before he could even grasp what was happening, things had already reached this irreversible point... A sudden wave of emptiness interrupted his thoughts. Barely clinging to life, he crawled, trying to reach the drawer before him, but a pair of gloved hands hauled him up. His desperately weakened body had no strength to resist. Tears and snot streamed down Shi Yuan's face as he begged, "Give me a shot. I can't stand it. It's in the drawer. Please." He was dragged up by his hair, and a group of people roughly shoved him into a van.) -"Thorn"